John Swinson is a partner in our Brisbane office where he specialises in intellectual property and technology law. Over the past 20 years, John has acted for many high profile technology corporations, internet companies, investors and financial institutions. He has considerable experience in the domestic and international aspects of copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret, Internet and privacy laws.

John represents clients in a wide range of business fields, including banks, publishers, software companies, governments and venture capitalists. He advises clients on legal matters involving technology, including obtaining protection for new products and services, commercialising technology, enforcing rights, licensing and litigation.

John's patent litigation experience has primarily involved computer, electrical and mechanical areas, with particular emphasis on computer networking, computer security, internet applications and financial and trading systems.

He has litigated a number of leading cases, including matters concerning copyright in computer programs, copyright in newspaper headlines, trade secret misappropriate by employees, trade mark infringement, trade mark ownership, software piracy, misleading online advertising, domain name cybersquatting and failed computer implementations.

John's expertise also includes tendering, outsourcing negotiations, licensing, government contracting and technology procurement.

John is an Adjunct Professor of Law at QUT Law School where he has taught "Cyberlaw" for over 10 years, an expert panelist for WIPO in relation to intellectual property arbitrations and domain name disputes, and is admitted to practice as a lawyer in both Australia and New York State.

John has been nominated as a leading lawyer in a number of prestigious legal directories including PLC Which lawyer? 2009 and most recently, the Asia IP Patent Survey 2010, Best Lawyers Australia 2009 and 2010, and APL Legal 500 (2010). John was also recognised by the Australian Financial Review in 2009 as one of the top 500 lawyers in Australia. The Brisbane intellectual property practice was recognised by Best Lawyers Australia (2010) as the number 1 intellectual property practice in Brisbane.

John is the Executive Vice President of the Australian Fulbright Alumni Association.

John graduated from Harvard Law School in 1991, in the graduating class with Barack Obama.